According to a new survey from EyeForProcurement, more than 50 percent of companies have policies on greening their supply chain, and companies are nearly unanimous in their belief that green supply chains will only continue growing.
The survey asked 188 procurement professionals -- primarily in the United States, Europe and Asia -- about their companies' practices, policies and plans for reducing the environmental impact of the materials used in their work.
The two most heavily represented sectors in the survey were the transportation/logistics fields and the high-tech industry. The retail and apparel sectors were minimally represented, which suggests to the study's authors that going green is not a high priority for businesses in that field.
The vast majority of products that companies are sourcing sustainably are packaging materials and the raw materials used in manufacturing, with 29 percent and 24 percent of respondents purchasing those materials from sustainable sources.
Two-thirds of the professionals in the survey said that they are practicing green procurement to support their companies' environmental or sustainability strategies, while 49 percent also said they're responding to customers' interest in eco-friendly products and services.
Although companies are increasingly aware of the benefits and importance of green procurement, most of them are only acquiring a small portion of their materials in that way. Only 13 percent of respondents are sourcing half or more of their products and services sustainably, while 55 percent said they source less than 10 percent of green goods.
"The procurement industry appears to be divided on the issue of the cost of implementing green purchasing practices," the survey notes, with just over half (51 percent) ready to pay a premium for eco-friendly products, and the remaining 49 percent seeing additional costs as an obstacle to sustainable procurement.
Regardless of the obstacles to greening the supply chain, companies agree that it is not a passing trend. Ninety-eight percent of the companies responding to the survey said that green purchasing will continue to expand, and the report notes that customers from all sectors and all countries are increasingly demanding eco-friendly products and services.
The survey was conducted by EyeForProcurement.com, which will be hosting the 2007 Green Purchasing Summit this November in Miami, Florida. More information about the survey and the conference are available at
http://www.eyeforprocurement.com/green/.
